26 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



the plough. We remember well, that when we fol- 

 lowed the plough in our boyish days, and knew no- 

 thing of the philosophy of ploughing, our aim was to 

 go over much ground and show a ploughed surface, 

 regarding the complete breaking up of the soil as of 

 minor importance. There will always be a great 

 many boys at the plough until the importance of good 

 ploughing is better understood . Good ploughing con- 

 sists in breaking or turning every inch of the soil ; 

 and good tillage requires that the harrow and roller 

 should finish, if the plough has failed to effect it, a 

 complete pulverization of the soil. A green sward 

 becomes pulverulent as the roots of the grasses de- 

 cay, and is best without a second furrow, because 

 this turns again to the surface, to the wasting influ- 

 ence of the sun and winds, the vegetable matter bu- 

 ried by the first ploughing, and which, if left buried, 

 would contribute largely to the sustenance of the 

 crop. As the roots of the grasses decay, the soil 

 becomes loose and porous, and is permeable to moist- 

 ure, air, and heat. Hence the advantage of fallow 

 crops over naked fallows, and of depositing seeds 

 upon the top of a clover lay : the sod then imparts 

 fertility to the soil, while it enables it to derive im- 

 portant advantages from the co-operation of external 

 agents. 



Good tillage requires that, wherever it is practi- 

 cable, as in the culture of drilled and hoed crops, the 

 surface soil should be kept clean and pulverulent 

 while the crop is growing, for the same reason that 

 the soil is required to be made so before depositing 

 the seed, viz., to facilitate the decomposition of the 

 vegetable food, to stimulate the organs of the plants, 

 and increase the growth and product of the crop. 

 There is no better expedient for preventing the evils 

 of drought upon a soil, than that of keeping the sur- 

 face mellow and clean. Atmospheric air and dew, 

 both always charged with the nutritive food of plants, 

 settle into such a surface as into a sponge, and impart 



